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Big Melt? Bring it On!

Thursday, March 6, 2014 @ 3:59 AM

(The scene last month when there was a big  melt before a refreeze – photo 250news archive )

Prince George, B.C.-  The City could see the start of a big melt this weekend.

Temperatures are expected to  start climbing out of the deep freeze today with a high of  minus 8,

Then tomorrow  a little warmer with a high of minus 1,  and the weekend looks  positively mild with a high  around 7 degrees both Saturday and Sunday.

The warmer temps will hold through  Tuesday and just to make things interesting there is a chance of rain.

So  all that warming  can mean  two things.

  1. Daytime melt and  overnight freezing making roads slick
  2. Blocked  drains creating  major puddles on the roads.

The City of Prince George says its ready.   The Streets Division has already  been removing snow from ditches in  areas  which are known to be problematic.

Crews have also been  working to  clear catch basins .

“We always have a foremen on-call and have staff and equipment operators ready to work overtime,” says Blake McIntosh, Manager of the City’s Utilities Division. “I’d also like to remind drivers to be cautious when driving into puddles, in case the water is deeper than expected, or obscuring a hazard.”

Residents can report a pothole on the City’s website.

 

Comments

Yep the drains on my street are covered in 6 inches of ice. Well the whole street is as the city hasn’t been able to remove Decembers snowfall. I wonder what it is going to cost them to unplug all the drains!

I can’t say as I have seen alot of road work going on in town anywhere I’ve been…
same ice ridges in the same places..
but who am I so say they are lying…. but I don’t believe him either…

It is -12C at the moment which is warmer than predicted by at least 4C. It never got near what the overnight temp was supposed to have been.

From Saturday onwards, the daily high for the next two weeks will be +5C to as high as +9C. and the sun is supposed to be out quite a bit as well which will assist the melting process. We will find out shortly how much ice is on the roads still, how many new rutted roads there will be for those areas that have 5+ cm of ice on the roads, and how quickly the City will remove them.

Then again, as far as the weather goes, the weatherman is not as predictable with forecasts as the City is with its lousy road maintenance.

Anyone want to bet the city hasn’t even thought about clearing any of our thousands of storm sewer grates “BEFORE” we get flooded out?

I cleared the grate in front of my house. Wouldn’t it be crazy if other homeowners did the same thing instead of waiting for the City to come along?

“Anyone want to bet the city hasn’t even thought about clearing any of our thousands of storm sewer grates “BEFORE” we get flooded out?”

That’s what happens when you leave it to union members to maintain important infrastructure.

No worries about storm drains on our streets. We got them old fashioned ditches and freezable culvert pipes. Tune up the steam truck today. Thanks.

Hey Johnnybelt. I saw a fellow using a scoop pushing snow clearing the entire street from 15th toward 10th. He might have been doing it for exercise but his neighbour said he told him he was “sick of waiting for Shari Greens crew to do it.”” Unfortunately he seems to be right. My street has not had storm drains opened or snow cleared from December! There are no ruts or washboard on our smooth paved street in the summer but right now you will get rattled to death. My question to Shari Green. Could we maybe hold off the trips to China for summer and use the funds to clear snow in winter? I understand that trips are the perk for Prince George Mayors but my concern is the accessibility for ambulance and firetrucks. Maybe we should reduce taxes and each household be responsible for their own streets.

With the amount of money us tax payers pay, we should not have to be out clearing our drains out. It is the same as the god awful crappy apple trees that the city has on our front lawn with it being up to me to clean up the apples every year. It is city property they should be maintaining and clearing it

How do you find your storm sewer grate under a foot of solid ice that is covered in 6 feet of rock hard snow?

Back to flipping your burgers etwit.

dispatch: “With the amount of money us tax payers pay, we should not have to be out clearing our drains out.”

Ah yes, the good old attitude of entitlement rears its ugly head. As for trips to China, I don’t agree with them either, but that hot button item that everybody likes to site is a mere drop in the bucket in terms of the City budget. Let’s pay attention to those kinds of items, but let’s stay focussed on the big picture as well.

From what I have seen the main tactic is to lean chin on the handle of a shovel and hope that the metal part will melt through the ice. Maybe they should have put the blade down a bit more this winter instead of high blading around town during contract talks.

Bet my burger flipping bank and investment accounts have more numbers to the left of the decimal than yours! What do you pay a year in union dues, a grand?More? Properly invested over a working life than alone would be a pretty nice sum instead of being used to protect a few useless employees.

Just wanted to say that when I was driving home today I saw at least half a dozen city trucks blasting out drains with steam/pressure washers. I’ll be one of the first to say the city dropped the ball, but this time they seemed on top of it. Props to the workers who were out today actually doing their jobs!

Maybe you should post the streets they were working on so ewitt can go look for herself.

I agree with JB. A few minutes of your time shovelling off a catch basin to avoid a problem in front of your home shouldn’t be a big deal. I’m guessing most of the snow snivellers on here don’t even shovel their own walkway.

When I lived on a street with a city drain in front of my house I was out there cleaning out the drain every spring. Its not that big of a deal.

That said this would be a good weekend to have city crews on the job when the ice is soft from the warm weather. Smart management would have had them off on Mon-Thursday during the week so they could work the weekend without overtime.

So ewitt do you invest with companies supported by unions?

Got any proof of a city worker holding his chin up with a shovel?

yada yada yada.

actually saw one lonely worker out and about today… standing on a sidewalk looking rather bewildered….
cor confused as to how he was to remove 8 to 10 inches of ice left by the cities silly idea of letting snow accumulate before removal.
oh well winter games next year and i suspect roads that are used by athletes will be pristine, the rest will be like this year or worse.

@seamutt
Companies that have unions yes but not public sector unions as that would mean things like Canada savings bonds or t-bills while they offer security do not work that hard and offer limited returns just like those on the public payroll!

Ewitt where is the proof? Have you ever worked in the public sector? I have worked both and disagree with you. With your diatribe on unions I take it you are against Labour laws giving employes any rights? Are you an employer?

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